Sometimes kids just don’t have the patience initially to stand idle while you do some of the prep-work to start a small project. Other times, you don’t have the time to do the prep-work to do a small project with your young woodworker. This is where some of the pre-fabricated kits can come in handy.  My son and I have done a couple of the RedTool box kits and we have both enjoyed the projects.

Our builds of the tool box and the bird house were both enjoyable and successful.  While the idea of a prefab kit, sometimes offends the woodworker in me, the being able to grab something fun of my shelf and immediately get to work on it with my son is very nice sometimes.

Examples of Red Box woodworking kits  on Amazon
Red Tool Box also has an entire line of tools and workbench.  My thoughts are, the tools are better than nothing.  They are kid sized, but real.  I prefer to pick and choose the tools I give my son, more carefully, but if you don’t have time for careful choices, Red Tool Box brand tools are a good place to start.

The Red Tool Box workbench is interesting and gets bonus points from me for having a real clamping system.  I have issues with its only two pole legs.  My recommendation would be to get a good workmate that can be used by both child and adult.  It has very similar features, but is more serious and can maintain its usefulness longer.

A good workbench is the key to a happy and safe experience with children working in the workshop. This one has some great features:

• Storage
• Configurable rack (french cleat)
• Dog holes
• Large work surface.

The only thing it seems to lack is a vise.  Teaching kids to secure their work properly helps avoid both accidents and frustration.

A book of woodworking, family history, world history, and a boy spending time with his Grandfather, and a bit of magic (dragons, elves and such).  Sounds like the makings of a great woodworking book for kids.  Lost Art Press has translated this from a French original that was written in 2007.  Advanced orders for Grandpa’s Workshop by Maurice Pommier are being taken by Highland Hardware.

Just too funny… as the child experiments with his non-electrical side.

(c) 2012 by King Features Syndicate, Inc. World Rights Reserved

Here is a nice introductory article about woodworking for kids by Doug Stowe that appeared in Fine Wood Working Magazine.  It is written with the intent of promoting the start-up of an elementary school woodworking approach, however, it covers some great concepts and issues for parents just wanting to get their own young children into their workshop.

Meet Matthew A.  He is a young woodworker with some great skill who is not only having fun building things with his Dad, but is filming it to share with all of us.

Matthew and Dad’s website The Newfoundland Woodworker geared toward woodworking kids.
Matthew on LumberJocks

Way to go Matthew and keep up the great work. You give us all something to aspire to.

This is only loosely related to woodworking but includes the concept that by bubble wrapping our kids (figuratively speaking) we are restricting their intellectual and physical development.  Here is a video of a presentation given by Gever Tulley, author of the book 50 Dangerous Things You Should Let Your Kids Do and founder of The Tinkering School. The video is only 5 of the 50 things, but it does a great job of setting the stage for child development through real life interaction.

Concepts I definitely support:

• Let kids take things apart.  In order to create, you also have to be able to deconstruct.
• Let kids have a jackknife.  Tools and the experience that comes with them  are important.
• Let them experiment with fire in a safe setting.

I really like the idea behind this kid-sized workmate. Keep the workpiece clamped to keep little hands off the wood when they are sawing, screwing, drilling, chiseling or even nailing. It is when kids (or adults) use one hand to hold the workpiece that injuries happen.

Unfortunately, this particular bench is built by someone with more welding experience than probably most woodworkers have. If you’ve got the skill though, this looks like a great project.

I do recommend that if you are buying an actual Black & Decker Workmate for your child to use, get the one that has the step to stand on. It not only gives your child a little height, it also adds their weight to the bench so it can’t slide.  It also has a 450lb capacity just in case you need it for your own use.

Watching this video leaves little doubt that we should take a few moments to teach our kids how and when to call 911. This 3 yr old called 911 after his dad cut himself badly with a chisel.

Here are some posters you can print out and hang in the shop to help remind them about 911. The poster itself may not remind them, but pointing to it and talking about it regularly might.
Posters in PDF. For older kids you can write your address and phone number on the poster with a marker.

Reminder: Two hands on the chisel and no hands holding the wood.

Thanks to Sean Hellman for sharing Ian Swain’s idea for mounting a drill bit in a wooden file handle to make what is essentially a hand drill for kids.  These are probably more accurately referred to as a Gimlets.  They lack the power of a Hand Brace, and the rpm of the egg beater hand drills, but they do seem to work well, especially in green wood.

You can see Video of it here from Sean Hellman.

Here is Ian Swain’s site where he sells the Palm Drill.

A vise is rarely one of those tools where we expect kids might get hurt.  Typically a vise is more of a safety feature than a risk.  You want kids to get in the habit of securing their workpiece in a vise rather than trying to hold it by hand.

Other than a workpiece slipping out of the vise, the other risk is the PINCH that can come from the vise handle catching a little bit of skin between the end of the handle and the hole where the handle resides.

The best way to keep the fingers of a kid or even an adult out of the pinch zone on a vise is to not let them get in there.  A rubber band wound around each end of the vise handle will keep flesh from getting pinched.

The rubber bands that I have found work the best are the fat blue ones that hold bunches of broccoli together.  They last longer and are thick enough to keep little fingers and big from getting pinched.

Highland Woodworking has just put together a grouping of various woodworking tools for kids. This is a good quick way to get your child up and running with a set of decent tools. These are not cheap toy tools, but quality woodworking tools that just happen to work well for kids.
You can find and purchase the entire set at HighlandWoodworking.com

My only objection of their choice in tools is the coping saw.  These are frustratingly annoying for kids to use and the one way to turn a kid off from woodworking is to frustrate them.  I suggest replacing it with my recommendations for  a better choice for kids saws.

When your child is ready to use a handsaw, safety should be the first requirement. Secure the wood with clamps, vises or kid friendly miter-box.  Kids should be taught to keep both hands on the saw or one hand behind their back.  That will eliminate nearly all potential sawing injuries.

With that out of the way the question comes to what saw is the right saw for them.  As with all woodworking took choices, there are quite a few choices.

Hack saws made for cutting metal are actually a good starter wood saw for kids.  The teeth are small and not overly aggressive.  This makes it easy to start and easy to move back and forth.  The teeth are hardened to will stand up to a fair amount of abuse and still cut fairly well.  The blade is not very deep so it does not get stuck in the wood as easily as a typical wood saw.  As an added bonus, the saw blade can be flipped around so it can be changed to cut either on the push stroke, or the pull stroke.  Be sure to get one that tensions the blade on both ends, not one of the flimsy ones where the end of the blade is not supported.  Great Neck and Stanley both offer good affordable hack saws.  Replacement blades are abundant and inexpensive.  When they are ready to use a real wood saw, this one can serve it’s real purpose of cutting metal and will be a tool that could last their lifetime.

Pull-saws come in a variety of shapes and sizes and have teeth that cut on the pull stroke.  The teeth are usually sharper than traditional saws and the blades are thinner, which means they cut easier and faster.  I recommend the carpenter style saws that have teeth on just one side.  The double sided Ryoba saws are handy with one side set for rip cutting and the other for crosscut, but the presence of teeth on both sides of the blade is a bit more of a safety risk for kids.  Good yet affordable pull saws are made by Shark and Irwin.  The one drawback to pull saws is that the teeth are sharp and fairly easily damaged if misused.

Toolbox Saws are short and generally have a thicker blade which makes them very sturdy.  I am a big fan of the Stanley 15″ yellow toolbox saw.  The yellow plastic handle makes it look like a toy, but it is not.  The teeth cut on both the push and pull stroke so it cuts fast and easily.  The blade guard is secure and completely covers the teeth so it protects them from kids who pick up and put away their tools roughly.  This is a good saw for kids, and while you are ordering them one, get a second for yourself.  You’ll be amazed at how often you need it.

Coping Saws or Jig Saws are best avoided for kids.  The blades often bind and break when used by young kids.  They take more practice than parents realize and a gentler hand to make them work effectively.  Many parents make the mistake of starting their kids with a coping saw because they look smaller and more manageable for kids, but any of the other saws above are a better choice.

Better Sawing for Kids

Regardless of the type of saw you choose for your child it is important that children (and their parent) understand that sawing is actually a gentle act.  Many kids get the wrong impression from watching their parents that sawing is an aggressive, forceful thing…the harder you push the faster you cut.  The tighter you grip the saw, the faster you cut.  These are both false.   A saw should pushed and pulled gently to allow the teeth to do the work.  A saw should be gripped lightly, not tightly.  The general rule is that when you are sawing, if anything is clenched (teeth, hands, butt) you are doing something wrong in your approach to sawing.

by Katie and Gene Hamilton.  A good source for projects that parents and kids can build together. Available from Amazon.

This project shows an 8 yr old girl using her tools that she received as a birthday gift to build a set of stilts from plans that her dad made up for her.

This one project is a great example of

• age appropriate tools (miterbox and saw , hand drill)
• parent modifying plans so a child can follow them
• safe practices (safety goggles, ear protection, dust mask, both hands on saw)